Is there any truth to the internet rumour of Turkeys' Incirlik air base being locked down? Or is this standard procedure for an "internal" power struggle and the American munitions are safely in US hands?

"U.S. and British special forces based in Jordan cross the border into Syria on missions, helping maintain an unofficial buffer zone on Syrian soil to protect Jordan from Islamic State, U.S. officials said. The special forces would rendezvous with their rebel allies at the garrison, initially used by the CIA. For security reasons, the forces wouldn’t spend the night."

So, to quote the piece itself, it's a "rebel outpost" regularly visited by US/UK personnel rather than a permanently maintained base.

2) I am somewhat wary of taking this here about an attack on a "families camp" on July 12th at face-value:

"But on July 12, as Mr. Kerry was preparing to fly to Moscow to complete the agreement to increase U.S.-Russian coordination, Russian aircraft targeted another base near the Jordanian border, about 50 miles from At-Tanf, used by family members of CIA-backed fighters and other displaced Syrians, according to U.S. officials briefed on the strike and rebel commanders.

Tllass Salameh, a commander with the Lions of the East rebel group which works out of the base, said 200 people were living at the “families’ camp.”

In the strike, the Russians used cluster munitions, which increased the number of casualties, according to Mr. Salameh and U.S. officials. Mr. Salameh said two young children, aged two and three, were killed along with two young women and a man in his mid-50s. In addition, 48 people were injured, all civilians, he said."

As it's by no means a first for insurgents in Syria to place militant personnel and arms in such camps, I wouldn't rule that out being the case again here. Further, why aren't the relatives of this outfit kept safe and secure within Jordan's borders, them being beholden to Jordan anyway?

Given the almost non existent reputation of western MSMs now, the sources of this "news" are germane. Is this an "exclusive" message from some shadowy front organization, or a multiply verifiable 'event?' Again, what would be of sufficient motivation for the Russians to do such a thing? This 'attack' is supposed to have occurred weeks ago. Why the delay in going public? Was some cleanup of the venue required? In short, if true, why this happened appears to have some significance. Finally, could some third party have used drones to carry this out and someone is using the 'event' to smear the Russians?
Early days yet.

"The object which had suffered bombardment was located more than 300 km far from borders of territories claimed by the American party as ones controlled by the opposition joined the ceasefire regime," the Russian Defense Ministry said in the statement.

And Russian forces "forewarned member states of the U.S.-led coalition about the ground targets to strike on," the statement added.

In recent months, the Russian Defense Ministry has suggested "compiling a joint map with actual information about location of forces active in Syria," according to the statement. "However, there has been no significant progress reached."

In other words: the US missed stating that in this area, too, there would be participants to the Cessation of Hostilities. Why's that?

I think this is the group known as the New Syrian Army who a few weeks ago attempted to attack Al-Bukamal in the Euphrates valley with disastrous consequences when their American "close air support" headed off to attack a large ISIS convoy leaving Fallujah and left them at the mercy of the ISIS forces in Al-Bukamel. So, I think the unofficial buffer zone story is just BS. If they really wanted to seal the Jordanian border to ISIS, why don't they send in some airborne battlefield radar and a few helicopter gunships.
As for the timing of this article, more than a month after the event, it couldn't possibly be to distract attention from the civilian casualties caused by bomb strikes around Manbij because everybody knows the Washington Borg is never so cynical.Talks are still under way between U.S. and Russian experts over the designated areas where the Russians would have to get Washington’s approval before conducting strikes.
Of course, the "designated area" would never cover the whole of Syria.

Could someone knowledgeable about German law enforcement parse what we're seeing in Munich? In particular, there seem to be a lot of Polizei wearing tan trousers, yellow short-sleeve shirts and no headgear, plus vests and carrying pistols and machine pistols. Who are they? Then there are more heavily equipped ones with helmets, more like one would see in a similar situation in the US.

"... it couldn't possibly be to distract attention from the civilian casualties caused by bomb strikes around Manbij because everybody knows the Washington Borg is never so cynical." Is there any proof of that or are you just running your mouth? pl

My impression is that Kaine has been lucky in his opponents when he ran for governor and the senate. He was also fortunate in his predecessor as a governor. Mark Warner was and is a very popular man in the commonwealth including among populations outside the Northern Virginia suburbs. Kaine was the mayor of Richmond at one point and a leader of the city council there before that. Richmond is a majority Black city, the White population having moved to its exurbs in Chesterfield County and north of the city. Kaine has a reputation as being very pro-Black. IMO Kaine's placement on the HC ticket will not guarantee a Democratic victory in Virginia in November. pl